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Friday, January 30, 2009

Is Vegetarian Sex Better...or Just Bloodless?

As I posted yesterday, a PETA Super Bowl ad claiming that vegetarians have better sex was rejected by NBC. Of course, everyone will see the ad anyway, thanks to YouTube. But Gut Check is more interested in the question the ad poses.

Do vegetarians have better sex? How, exactly, would you judge such a thing in the first place?

Physicians agree that eating meat clogs up the arteries that go to all organs, not just the heart, which means that eating meat causes impotence. Because pure vegetarians are about one-ninth as likely as meat-eaters to be overweight and report that they need less sleep and have more energy than meat-eaters, you will become more appealing in the bedroom.

But there's even more good news: Many healthy vegan foods are loaded with natural aphrodisiacs--nutrients and chemicals that boost your and your partner's sexual arousal and performance. Research has shown that vegetarians enjoy greater amounts of the nutrients that help boost sexual health and performance--such as vitamins A, C, and E and potassium--than meat-eaters do.

But wait!

A Slate article notes that, while vegetarians are generally healthier, they do face some sexual disadvantages thanks to their diet:

Vegetarianism also may have some negative effects on sexual desire. Vegetarian diets tend to correlate with higher rates of zinc deficiency, which is closely associated with lower testosterone levels and depressed sex drives. Vegetarian women are also more likely to develop amenorrhea (loss of periods), a condition that's usually accompanied by low testosterone, vaginal dryness, and poor libido.

There's also this:

Finally, the notion that overweight people are less sexually active isn't entirely accurate (for women, at least): A recent analysis published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that overweight women might, in fact, be slightly more active.

At any rate, it's silly argument, impossible to prove, but fun to discuss. I should mention that my journey through the Internet's tubes for this article turned up all sorts of fun items. For example, according to this FAQ on veganism, oral sex is considered vegan. Or, at least, not not vegan. On the other hand, most condoms aren't vegan because they contain casein.

I also stumbled across the site Vegan Erotica (NSFW!), which sells vegan bondage gear. If you're into that kind of thing.